Page 52 of No Mercy

“So, do I hear wedding bells?”

I shook my head before realizing she couldn’t see it. “Not sure.” I didn’t feel like going into an explanation about MC culture right then. “It’s too early to think about something so permanent. So, how are things there? How’s the family?”

“Oh, they’re all good. Same old, same old. Work is boring without you. The girl who took your place is kind of ditsy and she dresses in that Goth stuff.” I laughed. “Freaky bitch if you ask me, but she’s a friend of the owners, so I have to put up with her.”

“Give her time, Jen, before you know it you’ll be good friends and will have forgotten all about me.”

“Never! Bite your tongue!” she laughed jokingly. “No one can replace you, Allie.”

“All else good? Nothing exciting going on?”

“Nope, nothing−oh wait! You remember that little house you were renting down on the beach?”

“Yeah, did someone move in?”

“No! It burned down!”

“What?” I gasped with shock. At the same time I thought I heard a faint noise coming from inside the house, but brushed the thought away, too shocked by what I’d just learned.

“Yeah, there was a small article about it in the paper yesterday, I’ll clip it and send you a copy. They say it was done on purpose.”

Arson. “That’s odd.” I felt a moment of sadness as I thought about how happy Sam and I had been in that little house. I’d even considered approaching the owner about selling it to me if we’d decided to stay in Cedar Key.

“I know. Hey, I’m on a break and gotta go. Talk to you again soon, okay?”

“For sure.” I was still focused on the news about the house when we disconnected. I imagined this would be something the locals would talk about for some time. Cedar Key was normally a pretty quiet little town where nothing bad happened.

Sam and his friends came running around the corner of the house. “Hey, mom, we’re hungry.”

I’d been waiting for that. “There are apples in the fridge.” I smiled. His face fell with disappointment, and he exchanged looks with his friends, who scrunched up their faces in the global expression of a child showing distaste. I let out a laugh. “Or cookies in the cookie jar.”

“Yeah!” His face lit up at that, and the three boys came storming up the steps.

“Two each,” I said firmly, holding up two fingers as Sam pulled open the screen door. If I didn’t set a limit they’d devour the whole jar. I reached for my tea.

“Can we have some milk with them?” Sam asked as they moved past me into the house.

“Sure, honey. Do you need any help?” I turned my head so I could hear his response.

“No, I got it.”

Independent little guy. Sam was always trying to be more grown up than he was, and I knew he’d definitely not like my treating him like a baby in front of his friends. As long as I knew he couldn’t get hurt I’d always allowed him to do things for himself. How else was he going to learn? I listened carefully to what was going on behind me and could tell that he had everything under control. The next thing I knew they were stepping back out onto the porch, each holding a glass in one hand and two cookies in the other.

“We’re gonna take our cookies and milk out to eat under the tree,” Sam said with a big smile. “I shut the front door for you.”

My smile instantly disappeared. “What?”

“The front door was open, so I closed it.”

The screen door slammed behind them and I watched as they headed toward the same tree I’d watched the deer eat from. I thought back to the noise that I’d heard while talking to Jenny, and rose to my feet with a frown. Maybe I’d better check it out. I glanced out at the boys, who were now sitting and munching happily on their cookies.

“I’ll be inside for a minute, you boys stay right there until I get back.”

“We will, mom!”

I slipped inside the house, pausing to glance around and listen. Sam had said the front door had been open, but I knew that I’d closed it when we first arrived home, and the boys had gone outside through the sliding door leading to the screened in porch at the back. After listening for a few seconds and hearing nothing, I began to walk through the house. The open floor plan made it easy to see almost everywhere except for the bathroom and laundry room. Once I checked them out I found myself at the bottom of the stairs.

I glanced up, biting down on my bottom lip. Did I want to go up there? Was I just being paranoid? I thought about calling someone, but I knew that Rock was out of town and that probably meant that his brothers were with him. After a minute of debating I started up, taking each step slowly. The closer I got to the top, the more I began to feel apprehension, thinking about all the horror movies I’d watched where the killer was upstairs lying in wait for his unsuspecting victim.

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